H-1B visas by the numbers: Silicon Valley versus Indian...

1of2Stacked shipments of H-1B visa petitions outside a government processing center in Laguna Niguel, Calif., April 3, 2017. Possible changes to the program that allows technology companies to import foreign workers may be adding to an even heavier rush than usual this year. (Eros Hoagland/The New York Times)Photo: Eros Hoagland / New York Times 2017

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Government data shows significant shifts in the pool of applicants for H-1B visas, with Indian outsourcing companies scaling back and Bay Area tech companies stepping up their use of the foreign-worker program. With the lottery for the 85,000 visas available to for-profit employers beginning Monday, The Chronicle analyzed data from 2015 to 2017 to see trends that experts believe may continue as companies adapt to tighter enforcement and increased scrutiny.

Labor condition applications are filed with the Department of Labor by companies seeking to hire someone on an H-1B visa. The Chronicle focused on the largest Indian outsourcers, many of which have a presence in the Bay Area, as well as the region’s fast-growing tech companies.

Companies may file more than one application for a single position, to satisfy legal requirements if the visa holder will work in more than one geographic location, and they can sometimes file a single application for multiple positions, so applications do not correspond one-for-one into the number of visas requested. Yet it is the best and most recent indicator of a specific company’s use of H-1B visas.

Critics of the H-1B visa have accused Indian consulting companies of abusing the system by flooding the lottery with applicants. Nasscom, a trade association representing the firms, has pointed to a “growing shortfall between the supply and demand for computer science majors” in the U.S., and says that the use of work visas like the H-1B helps “bridge the skill gap.”

Applications from the companies dropped dramatically in recent years, however. Wipro’s filings fell by more than half. A spokesman for Tata said the company is reducing its use of H-1B visas through investments in the U.S., ranging from “innovation labs” to “academic partnerships.”

Bay Area tech companies, by contrast, are significantly increasing their visa requests — though they still request far fewer than the outsourcing firms.

The rise in requests appears to match growing workforces. Tesla, for example, had 40,000 employees in 2017, up from 13,000 in 2015.

Some of the increase may stem from worries about future changes in the program, which tech companies say they depend on to fill highly skilled positions, immigration attorneys said.

Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, points out that the limit on the number of visas for-profit employers can obtain was set in the 1990s, before smartphones and social media.

“When Congress set some of these numbers on H-1Bs and green cards, there was just no way for them to know that there would be this tremendous explosion in demand for high-skilled labor,” he said. “And (local) universities are only putting out a limited number of native-born individuals with these skills.”